Deng Tianyu took a deep breath, expelling those stray thoughts from his mind.
He then left Aunt Rong’s boudoir with Ling’er, closing the door behind them.
In the courtyard, Ling’er toyed with the Heart-Controlling Gu Mother in her hand and asked curiously,
“Mr. Deng, are you a Sword Cultivator who has comprehended Sword Intent?”
Deng Tianyu looked surprised. “How did Miss Ling’er know?”
When he had helped Aunt Rong remove the Heart-Controlling Gu, it had been in the inner chamber. Ling’er shouldn’t have been able to see from outside.
Ling’er raised the Heart-Controlling Gu Mother in her hand slightly. “It told me!”
Deng Tianyu was somewhat astonished. “It has sentience?”
He had dealt with the Heart-Controlling Gu Mother before, but had only found it exceptionally fierce, attacking him without a second thought. He never imagined it had actually developed sentience.
“All things possess spirit!”
“As long as one understands the method of communication, one can coexist with them.”
Ling’er nodded. Several silkworm chrysalises had appeared in her hand at some unknown moment.
The instant the Heart-Controlling Gu Mother saw the silkworm chrysalises, it immediately opened its mouth wide and swallowed them all in one gulp.
The moment it finished eating, it looked at Ling’er with eager desire, clearly not full yet.
Ling’er tapped its head and scolded it playfully, “Today’s portion is finished. If you want more, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow!”
The Heart-Controlling Gu Mother curled up aggrievedly in her palm, refusing to lift its head again.
Deng Tianyu withdrew his gaze and finally spoke. “I have indeed comprehended Sword Intent!”
Ling’er looked at him eagerly, itching for a fight. “Could you spar with me?”
Deng Tianyu was puzzled. “Why?”
Spar with her?
Could this girl be a battle maniac?
Ling’er placed the Heart-Controlling Gu Mother on the stone table and looked at him. “Because people all say that Sword Cultivators who have mastered Sword Intent can break ten thousand laws with a single sword!”
“And the ‘ten thousand laws’ here includes the Gu Path.”
“I want to see if that’s truly the case!”
“Alright!” After thinking for a moment, Deng Tianyu agreed.
He also wanted to witness the methods of a Gu Cultivator.
To step into the King-Sealing Realm, he needed to accumulate insights into heaven and earth. Insights gained from battle naturally counted as one type.
Seeing Deng Tianyu agree, Ling’er somewhat excitedly stepped into the spacious courtyard. “You and I will suppress our cultivation to the Condensing Origin Realm. This place will be our battlefield.”
“Whoever can’t hold on first loses!”
“As you wish!” Deng Tianyu also stepped into the courtyard, simultaneously suppressing his cultivation to the Condensing Origin Realm.
Clearly, although his opponent was somewhat battle-hungry, she knew that using power above the Five Viscera Stage would destroy the courtyard.
“I’m attacking!”
Ling’er got into her stance and even gave a friendly warning.
Deng Tianyu nodded, indicating she could begin!
In the next instant, Ling’er put on her black Knuckle Dusters. Her body suddenly arched like a drawn bow, her feet stomped fiercely, and she shot towards him like a human-shaped ferocious beast.
“Are all Gu Cultivators this brutish?”
Deng Tianyu complained inwardly. His hand turned in a virtual grip, and a three-foot sword rainbow instantly took shape.
His figure suddenly pulled upward, a gleam of sword light rising like a bolt of lightning tearing away.
“Boom!”
A piercing, muffled sound rang out and spread. Ripples of True Essence swept across as he and Ling’er each retreated several steps.
Deng Tianyu frowned. “What terrifying brute force. Is that a Strength Gu?”
“Correct. I’ve nurtured a Strength Gu within my body.”
Ling’er licked her red lips with her tongue, a thirst for battle flashing in her eyes.
As her words fell, she lunged at him once more, like a leopard pouncing on its prey.
“Boom… Boom… Boom!”
Deng Tianyu twisted his wrist, and the three-foot sword rainbow’s afterimages formed a straight line as he clashed with her.
His attacks were incomparably sharp, like an arrow piercing the east wind, or like the long rainbow that pierces the sun at daybreak!
Ling’er’s attacks, however, were wide and sweeping. Each strike was heavy and powerful, extremely domineering and fierce.
“Boom!”
At that moment, Ling’er crossed her arms and blocked a sweeping strike called “Sword Quakes the Eight Directions”, but was sent flying back several yards.
“I’m going to change my attack pattern now!”
After a word of warning, her entire figure instantly vanished into the shadows.
Deng Tianyu expanded his perception but couldn’t capture her figure.
Immediately, his frown deepened.
At that very moment, the shadow behind him flickered. A figure carrying the force of a thousand jun fiercely slammed towards his back.
The instant Deng Tianyu discovered Ling’er behind him, he didn’t hesitate. He sidestepped, his three-foot sword rainbow drawing a sword arc, a cold gleam flashing and disappearing.
Unfortunately, Ling’er merely curled her lips and vanished into the shadows again.
When she reappeared, she was already in front of Deng Tianyu, launching another attack.
“Whoosh!”
Ling’er, who had thought she would hit her mark, was stunned, for what stood before her was merely an afterimage.
The real Deng Tianyu had already appeared far away.
This was unmistakably the Purple Cloud Sect’s movement technique—”Rosy Light Shadow Glimpse”!
“So, besides the Strength Gu, Miss Ling’er has also nurtured a Shadow Gu within her body!”
Deng Tianyu smiled and spoke.
A Shadow Gu, as the name implied, allowed movement like a shadow.
Whether day or night, wherever there were shadows, one could move freely.
Ling’er pouted with dissatisfaction. “I’ve already used the abilities of two of my Gu, and you haven’t even used your Sword Intent yet.”
Hearing this, Deng Tianyu was stunned. “You’ve nurtured other Gu as well?”
He had some understanding of Gu Cultivators.
Gu were divided into six major categories; Shadow Gu and Strength Gu were two of them.
For a Gu Cultivator to obtain a Gu’s power, they needed to absorb the Gu into their body and nurture it with their essence blood.
Generally speaking, a Gu Cultivator who could house two Gu was already considered a rare genius.
And one who could house three or more Gu was absolutely considered a peerless Heaven’s Pride within the Gu Clan.
This was because a cultivator’s essence blood was extremely precious and couldn’t possibly nurture an unlimited number of Gu creatures.
“Yes, two more!”
Ling’er didn’t hide it and told the truth.
As she spoke, her figure vanished once again.
This time, her speed was extremely fast, disappearing into the shadows almost instantly.
Looking around, the entire courtyard was filled with her afterimages.
She would sometimes sink into a shadow, sometimes emerge from one, slowly closing in on Deng Tianyu.
For some reason, watching this scene, Deng Tianyu suddenly thought of the game “Whac-A-Mole”.
As his thoughts drifted, the three-foot sword light in his hand shifted and became wrapped in a layer of frost. He swung it towards the ground!
“Crack… Crack…”
In an instant, with Deng Tianyu at the center, a cold wind raged, and waves of bone-chilling cold spread rapidly.
Wherever it passed, the bluestone-paved ground turned into ice.
This was unmistakably Winter Hiding from the Four Seasons Sword Intent!
“Bang!”
Under this Winter Hiding Sword Intent that engulfed the entire area, Ling’er’s feet were frozen, and she could no longer dive into the shadows. Her face paled in shock. She immediately tried to use her Strength Gu to break free, only to find her body also covered in a layer of frost.
Ling’er’s beautiful eyes widened in alarm. No longer daring to suppress her cultivation, she instantly shattered the ice layer on her body.
“No more, no more!”
“Your Sword Intent is way too terrifying!”
“Using only the power of the Condensing Origin Realm, you could probably slay a Five Viscera Stage cultivator!”
If she had been any later, her entire body would likely have become an ice sculpture.
“Miss Ling’er still has the power of two more Gu unused.”
“If you had used them, the battle’s outcome would be uncertain.”
Deng Tianyu shook his head. All the chilling intent in the courtyard was withdrawn, and he dispersed the three-foot sword rainbow in his hand.
He spoke the truth, not mere flattery.
Ling’er didn’t use those two Gu’s powers, likely because she didn’t want to reveal that secret.
